The moral of the recent turmoil at JC Penney seems to be It is far wiser, effective, and profitable to create with your customers instead of foisting your ideas upon them. Continue reading »

Our industry is moving to a business model based on discovering elusive needles in the haystack. Continue reading »

With new tools in consumer ideation and co-creation combined with lightning fast big data analytics, MR is evolving from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. Continue reading »

We look at our shiny new MR tools without paying proper attention to what aspects of the marketplace they are meant to enrich. To answer that question, let’s zoom above the trees and take a look at the battle just starting to take shape in the forest below. Continue reading »

I see an inverse relationship between report effectiveness and report length. Here is my recipe for maximizing the impact of the MR report. Continue reading »

All in all, the 84th Academy Awards were largely forgettable. In the midst of this blandness, they set up a skit based on the idea of a 1939 Focus Group for “The Wizard of Oz.”. As I watched the piece, which had some funny moments, I was thinking to myself “What was the writer/director’s intent?” And basically, it was to slam the idea of common folk aiding the creative process. Personally, I felt that MR had been dissed. Continue reading »

I have read countless articles expressing the viewpoint that the new opportunities presented by New MR (e.g. social media listening, mobile, text analytics, MROCs, Crowdsourcing, neuro-monitoring, etc.) are merely new tools in our toolbox. I don’t agree with that politically correct argument. I think these new tools are the replacements. Which means “the survey” and “some groups” are going the way of the dodo bird. Continue reading »

If everything we’re meant to support is changing, then how will that impact the way our industry operates or the tools we bring to the battle? To be honest, I’m not sure. In theory, you could just continue to use the same tools we always have and simply modulate the sample to reflect the new target. But with the land under our feet literally changing, it seems clear we need to account for not only where the consumer stands today but where they will be tomorrow. Continue reading »

There were some great discussions that stemmed from my previous post about the “Limiting Adjective of ‘Marketing’ Research.” Some really insightful responses that exhibited multiple perspectives on the topic! The conversation also led to a question being asked in the GreenBook Research Industry Trends (GRIT) study, and early results showed that 42% said “yes, we need to develop a new term that is more reflective of what our business is today.” Even though this is not the majority, it does indicate a divide in how our industry views itself. I’m excited to continue the ride and see how things progress over the next few years. Continue reading »

All in all, it’s been a pretty challenging decade for marketers. The role of the CMO is being diminished; traditional brand channels are being marginalized. And the CEO has seemingly fallen in love overnight with social media alternatives. And what’s bad for marketing should be bad for marketing research. After all, we are merely a supporting act for the marketing department. Continue reading »